In-depth Information About Winnebago County
Winnebago County consists of two main ecoregions, the Upper Midwest Forest-Savanna Transition Zone and the Central Forest-Grasslands Transition Zone.
Upper Midwest Forest-Savanna Transition Zone (UMZ)
The UMZ consists of 64,100 square miles in North America. It is a transition zone between the plains and the forests of the Eastern U.S. Winnebago County is part of the southern border and transitions into the Central Forest-Grasslands Transition Zone. The UMZ includes oaks, maples, basswood and tallgrass savannas. It also has important riparian floodplain forest ecosystems.
Most of the UMZ has been affected by farming and development. It has also been affected by fire suppression and suffers greatly from fragmentation. Restoration is needed in the UMZ including brush removal, burning, and thinning of forests where oak savannas could be improved or created.
Some of the major threats facing the UMZ are: residential and commercial development causing fragmentation, lack of awareness on the importance of the UMZ, fire suppression, exotic plant invasion, and deer overgrazing.
Central Forest-Grasslands Transition Zone (CTZ)
The CTZ consists of 157,100 square miles in North America. This is the second transitional zone in Winnebago County. The zone transitions between the tallgrass and mixed grass prairies and the eastern deciduous forests. It includes a mix of grasslands and woodlands.
The CTZ differs from other forested ecoregions in the east because of the mix of savanna, prairie and woodlands. The CTZ has higher tree and shrub densities than other prairie and grassland zones. In the past this zone was naturally maintained by fires and periods of droughts. But now almost no intact portion of the CTZ remains as most of the region has been farmed extensively.
However, the CTZ is one of North America's richest and most valuable ecoregions because of its large size and location between the Great Plains and Eastern Deciduous Forest. It ranks as one of the top ten ecoregions for reptiles, birds, butterflies, and tree species.
Fragmentation is a great threat to what remains of this ecoregion. However, there are many projects in place to help conserve the remaining habitat. Also, there are many parks and preserves already protected. Some good protection plans include: acquiring floodpain forests after floods and connecting smaller clusters to reduce the fragmentation.
The two ecoregions of Winnebago County are two of the most major transition zones in North America. This makes Winnebago a crossroads of habitats and is loaded with a wide diversity of animal and plant life. Basically, this county is situated where east meets west and north meets south.